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The First Beast

• A beast rose out of the sea.
• The beast that John saw is similar to the beasts that Daniel saw. Yes, Daniel saw beasts — plural — where John only saw beast — singular.
• Do I see a contradiction between the two passages? Personally, I don’t. If anything, I see evolution.
• It makes me sad to think the Antichrist would rise out of an entity assumed to be God’s Church. But wouldn’t that be exactly what Satan is trying to do?

• If the first three beasts are talking about earthly kingdoms, their reach is going to be more limited than that of the fourth beast.
• For me, if we go further in Daniel 7, we see that – if Daniel was talking about earthly kingdoms – the fourth beast is more than just an earthly kingdom.
• Yes, the fourth beast is going to have global impact. In other words, it is going to establish a world order.
• But this is going to be more than just an earthly government. This is going to be a religious tyranny.
• There won’t be a separation between church and state. State will take over.
• After the ten kingdoms rise, another one will arise — the Antichrist.
• The world order that will be established by the Antichrist to overrun God’s temple. 
• Satan wants us to disregard God and His Word. In other words, he thinks we are above God’s laws. His Antichrist will spread this message.
• Mankind will be expected to worship the Antichrist.
• Satan will do everything in his power to get us to not follow God. No, he won’t just concentrate on those who do not believe in God.

• We have to have been brought into a covenant relationship with God — and stayed there.
• Satan says we can rewrite God’s laws and commandments. That is exactly what the Antichrist is going to try to accomplish when the one world order is established.
• He will get some of God’s laws and commandments rewritten. The Antichrist will try to eliminate the Festivals and Shabbat (worship services).
• The reign of the Antichrist will be limited.
• The Day of the Lord will be a dividing of time. It will divide the cursed time with the purity of eternity.
• When the reign of the Antichrist will be taken away, it will be given to the saints.
• God’s laws and commandments will eventually prevail and be used to govern all nations. No, this won’t be some spectacular military conquest — just as Jesus wasn’t a military Messiah.
• Jesus’ kingdom will be an eternal kingdom.
• This description of ten horns, seven heads, and ten diadems of the beast is very similar to that of the dragon.
• The difference between the dragon and the sea beast is the crowns. The dragon has seven crowns while the sea beast has ten. The crowns are worn on the sea beast’s horns.
• As Jesus will have His name tattooed on Him, so will Satan. This is another way Satan is going to try to mimic Jesus.

• Daniel’s beasts have long been believed to identify four kingdoms. The lion, the first beast, represents the Babylonian empire, and the bear, the second beast, represents the Persian empire. The third beast, the leopard, represents Greece while the fourth beast represents Rome.
• The Antichrist will be given power and authority by Satan.
• We can’t underestimate the beast’s authority. With this tremendous power, he is pursuing moral injury.
• Satan offered this power and authority to Jesus. Jesus refused. That doesn’t mean Satan stopped looking for someone to accept. He found that someone in the Antichrist.
• Satan doesn’t get it that this view is going to cause his defeat.
• Anything not following God’s Will on the Day of the Lord will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20: 15).
• Satan wants so badly to be exactly what God is. He tries to mimic Him any chance he gets.
• Satan the dragon is mimicking God. Satan the sea beast is mimicking Jesus. Satan the land beast is mimicking the Holy Spirit.

The Antichrist Wounded

• The Antichrist is going to mimic Jesus’ death and resurrection.
• Satan tries really hard to be exactly the same as God — except in the purity of his morality. He doesn’t want God’s character because he does want to follow God’s laws and commandments.
• What is going to happen is that Satan is going to stage a resurrection of the Antichrist. Is Satan powerful enough to raise someone from the dead?
• Satan is not all-powerful. God is.
• Satan isn’t in control of life and death.
• The whole world is going to follow the Antichrist. That’s scary. But it matters not how much authority it will appear that the dragon and beast have. God will still crush Satan and the Antichrist in the end.
• The purpose of the beast is to make war with the saints.
• The Antichrist thinks he is better than God. But being mighty on earth does not mean we rival God. God has no rival.
• I know it will be difficult – if not near to impossible – at the time to withstand the Antichrist. We have to remember nothing is impossible for God.
• We cannot be irreverent to God.
• We are blasphemous to God when we talk irreverently and immorally to Him. In other words, blasphemy speaks the opposite of what God speaks.
  It might be easy to think that, in the end times, disciples are going to lose battles – even the war.

• We want to choose to endure. If we don’t, we are a goat masquerading as a sheep.
• The beast/Antichrist is wielding a lot of power. No, not because Satan is that much stronger than God. It is because Satan has more followers than God does.
• The Antichrist’s power will have a global impact.
• God allows us to decide for ourselves whether we are going to be for or against Him. But He already knows the outcome of that decision. To Him, what is going to happen in the future is already a done deal.

• Paul said we not only have to see with the eyes of our hearts (Eph. 1: 18), but we also have to hear with the ears of our hearts. We are to listen and implement God’s message into our lives. Our response should be to hear, listen, and obey.
• Power really isn’t taken away from God. Whatever happens does happen because God allows it to happen. 
• And there is a really good reason for God to allow this to happen.
• This is happening for judgment purposes. It is also happening for sanctification purposes.
• God’s Word does not promise a prosperity gospel. This is talking captivity and death for disciples.
• Our enduring whatever is thrown at us is important. Enduring does require some strength, but it isn’t our strength. We must rely on God to provide the strength for us to endure.

• The Antichrist – and Satan – only win if we choose not to be obedient to God. That is the only way.

Glossary

Sheep and Goats

Who Is the Antichrist?

• The Antichrist is associated with the end of the age. The end of the age is also termed as the last hour.
• We always think of the build-up to the end. Jesus’ Second Coming should be built up. But then, the Antichrist is also getting a build up.
• Because there are many antichrists, an antichrist might be here now.
• Isn’t it bad enough that we have to deal with one? Jesus warned us we were going to have to deal with more than one antichrist (Mt. 24: 24 ESV).
• The Antichrist is going to originally be associated with the Church. This may be one of the most disturbing phrases in all of God’s Word. How? Well, the pat answer is that there are goats masquerading as sheep in today’s church.
• I guess the first question we have to ask is how they got in the Church in the first place? Did they think they were making a genuine profession of faith, or did they know they were lying about their conversion?
• We may not always find Christ because the goats masquerading as sheep are pointing us to more of a worldview doctrine.
• So, Satan and the antichrists rewrite God’s Word to lure those people in. Just as in Satan’s fall from Heaven, the Antichrist wants to take as many saints with him as he can.
• Disciples must work hard to ensure that we can identify an antichrist.
• The Antichrist won’t just oppose Christ in that he will deceive people to believe that he is the Christ.

• Satan’s fall from grace occurred because of his pride and jealousy. He wanted to be God. So, Satan and the Antichrist pretend they are God and the Christ.
• The Antichrist will actively try to pull disciples away from Christ.
• To me, this is very important to remember when Satan is trying to tempt us to go against God’s Will. It gets down more to the core of what it means to be a disciple. Disciples are called to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5: 16 ESV).

• Satan wants us to believe that Jesus is not God’s Son. In other words, Satan wants to undermine our faith so that we take our focus off God and allow Him to corrupt our hearts and minds. He didn’t stop this assault when the Church switched from being called the early Church to just the Church. Satan is still trying to erode our faith.
• We have to dig deep into anything someone is trying to teach us. No one is going to get everything exactly right, but all teachings we study should be able to be supported by scriptures in God’s Word.

Glossary

Grace

Faith

The Second Beast

• The beast of the earth is to mimic the Holy Spirit.
• Well, you know if God has a Trinity, then Satan needs one, too. If the dragon is God and the first beast is Jesus, that means the second beast is the Holy Spirit.
• Where the first beast came from the sea, the second beast rises out of the earth. Satan is the prince of this world. It is logical what he tinkers with comes from this world. It is logical that the beast mimicking the Holy Spirit come from the earth, as it will guide people to follow worldview beliefs. 
• God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all have the same nature. Yeah, so do the dragon and the two beasts.
• If God has a Lamb, Satan wants a lamb, too.
• Jesus isn’t called by name in the Book of Revelation. The title the Lamb that was slain is used to identify Him.
• There are only two horns for the second beast, not ten for both the dragon (Rev. 12: 3) and the beast (Rev. 13: 1). The difference is that the second beast doesn’t have a crown.
• What the second beast has is worldly wisdom. He will be accepted by worldview people because he will not only be telling them what they want to hear, he will also be telling them what they have already heard. That makes the second beast the spiritual teacher to worldview people.
• The second beast should be expected to be a spokesman for the dragon. 
• The Holy Spirit is the intermediary between us and God. The Holy Spirit speaks on God’s authority. The Holy Spirit is God’s spokesman, so Satan is going to want one.
• The Holy Spirit aids in our worship of God as will the second beast. The second beast will convince worldview people to worship the first beast as they are to worship God.
• Satan will utilize signs and wonders to try to convince worldview people that his lies are truth.
• Miracles have their place in the gospels. We serve an unseen God. We need something we can see. These are a visual representation of the power of God. He can do the impossible that we can’t.
• As Satan wants to mimic God, he also dabbles in miracles, signs, and wonders. The problem is his are fake.
• Satan doesn’t have real power. He wants to manipulate us into disobeying God, so he fakes his miracles. Satan wants to be seen as rivaling God.
• Physical things that we can gain should not be the benefit we are looking for. We should be looking to believe in Jesus because He is our Savior. But Satan is touting the worldly benefits of the miracles. He wants us to be selfish, entitled, and demanding.
• Satan tries to present things as they are nice and shiny, but they are dull in comparison with what God provides for us.
• We shouldn’t settle for a fake Trinity. Satan is a master at deception.
• We must never abandon what God’s Word tells us. We must persevere until the end.
• If we don’t focus on Jesus and His guidance, we risk letting Satan get a toe hold in our lives.

• The first beast is not going to be powerful if he doesn’t have the second beast convincing us that he is the real deal. No, neither beast nor the dragon is the real deal.

Glossary

Holy Spirit

What Is The Mark of the Beast?

• John would have been familiar with the practice of marking slaves to show to whom they belonged.
• It is logical that Satan would find a way to identify his followers as opposed to disciples of God.
• Instead of identifying the “enemy,” the mark of the beast will identify Satan’s followers.
• Everyone – regardless of their beliefs, economic status, social status, and influence – will be required to be marked. They just have to go along with the worldview.
• Isn’t that what the worldview is already trying to tell us? People should be allowed to have their own beliefs. They are to, in turn, allow others to have their own beliefs.

• John doesn’t elaborate as to what this mark will be. He just says that it is either on the right hand or the forehead.
• What happens if we are totally convinced the mark of the beast will be a microchip – and it isn’t? What if it is a tattoo? What if it isn’t a literal symbol? It didn’t sound like the seal for the 144,000 in Revelation 7 was going to be something that would brand them. Would some be coaxed into getting the mark because it wasn’t happening the way they interpreted God’s Word?
• Satan would see putting the mark on the right hands of goats masquerading as sheep as sticking a knife in God’s heart.
• I just wonder if, when it is implemented, people will see the mark of the beast as an identification of their slavery to the beast.
• We have an unknown amount of time before the unknown mark of the beast will be required. Many things could be invented between now and then. We don’t want to not consider them because we made up our minds too soon.
• A major way in which the authority of the first beast will be administered is through economic discrimination.
• In order to participate in the economy, those alive at that time will need to have the mark of the beast.
• It doesn’t sound like God’s disciples will have their money confiscated. It sounds like the currency they will have will not be accepted.
• True, that will make disciples’ lives in the physical world extremely difficult. But we are not to put our focus on this world. We are to focus on our eternal lives with God. Anyone who is a disciple of God will refuse to be marked. So, this is going to be their reality.
• It is easy to think that the mark is physically going to be a number. 
  We will have God’s seal or Satan’s mark of the beast. So, our choice is whether we are going to follow God or Satan. Are we going to have God’s character and principles or Satan’s?
• God calls His children to be wise so that they may withstand the lure of the second beast.
• God will provide wisdom so that we can discern what is right. It isn’t our wisdom that we need, anyway. We need God’s wisdom (Jas. 1: 5 ESV).
• God also gives us discernment. He gives us the means to evaluate the situation and recognize right from wrong. 
• The number of the beast reflects both the first beast and the second beast as, like the Trinity, they have the same nature and merge into one being with the dragon. That gives them the same number. The number is also hidden in an incomprehensible manner.
• Part of me says that God would show how wise He is in that He is probably about the only one who could figure that out. Part of me says God wouldn’t set us up for failure. He doesn’t want us to fall for Satan’s deceit

• The problem is we confuse Satan growing us with God growing us. Of course, Satan is going to want church attendance to grow if it is going to keep us from truly serving God.
• We focus on self-help programs instead of working out our salvation through inward transformation. We fix ourselves. We look to science for answers instead of accepting God did what He did His way – and we don’t necessarily need to know what that way is.
• We have talked many times that to follow the worldview belief is to just have an outward appearance. To follow God is to have a true inward transformation.
• Can we interpret that to mean, in the end, Satan wants our total submission to him? He doesn’t want us to give him lip service as we sometimes give God.
• Ooo, baby. Does that mean Satan is deceiving worldview people to make them think that they aren’t really making a decision about their eternal life – when they really are.

Glossary

Worldview

The Lamb and the 144,000

• The Lamb and the 144,000 are united in Heaven.
• We’re not told timing of this event occurring. Is it after judgment because they individually get to Heaven? Or are we considered redeemed only when the Church is “… redeemed from the earth” (Rev. 14: 3 ESV).
• As this life is a trial run of our lives in Heaven, we should strive to live in unity with the saints now.
• Oh, sometimes, we fail to confess God even after conversion during our trial run. There are times that some want to hide the fact that they are disciples. We shouldn’t want to hide our godliness. We should realize that we cannot hide true godliness.
• We have to remember that we are striving to gain God’s character. We are not our own. We are His.
• Music, because for those of us into it, we feel the emotions and truth woven throughout the melody and lyrics, is what makes it a great way to worship God. It is an expression of the heart.
• Silent vocal music. What does that mean? I would offer that it means that while we worship through music – vocally and otherwise – we need to take the focus off ourselves and keep it totally on God. The object of the worship is Him.
• The music comes out of our virtue – our character. When we are a child of God’s, it comes out of God’s character – because we have His character. That is where the harmony comes into play. We are in harmony with God and with other disciples.
• We are trained by studying God’s Word. We need to seek Him.
• We can look at it being appropriate a couple of ways. This ties in nicely with discernment. We have to recognize right from wrong. The other way we can look at it is appropriate is being obedient to God. We have to follow God’s Will. Yes, those two are similar, but I see a big difference. We can recognize right from wrong – but still not choose to do what is right.
• I see this to mean that we are to be progressing from a milk baby to a steak adult. We are to be in God’s Word daily, looking to see Him.
• We have to be working out our salvation. Working out our salvation is making it real to us. It is applying it to our lives and seeing what being obedient to God really means.
• When we get to Heaven, it will be a new song, one that we haven’t sung before.
• This is all about redemption.
• We are immediately regenerated upon conversion. We are made spiritually alive when we are rescued from Satan and the bondage of sin through navigating the Sanctification Road.
• We still have to navigate the Sanctification Road. That changes our nature from our sinful nature to having God’s nature. This is where we are purified.
• It is this training – sanctification – that prepares us for Heaven. Remember, we keep saying this life is a preparation for eternal life.
• Even though we Gentiles are not numbered among the 144,000, we can still come and worship Him.
• Only those who have sinned are in need of salvation — everyone. Only those who have accepted the gift can sing the song.

• So, let’s put all of this together. They are with the Lamb on Zion, singing a song only the redeemed can sing.
• Unfortunately, many worldview people think salvation can be earned another way than what God says. They think we can be good people. They think we can do good deeds and earn our way into Heaven. They would be wrong.
• We imitate Jesus by following God’s laws and commandments. We follow God’s Will for our lives.
• Being the firstfruits shows us in perfect fellowship with God.
  God puts great store in being first.
• The firstfruits are those who have been bought with a price – the blood of Jesus. We know this because Jesus was called the firstfruit. I think this helps us with the discussion of the 144,000. That number is the first fruits. It is not the complete harvest. It is logical that the Jews are the firstfruits. Jesus came to them first.
• Redemption is based on forgiveness. God has pardoned us for the sins we have committed.

Glossary

Redeem

Sanctification

Salvation

Sin

The Messages of the Three Angels

• The first angel is a missionary angel.
• But are they the heavenly beings we think of when we hear the term angel? Maybe it is the office rather than the being. It was not referring to a single angel. Instead, both contended that angel also refers to ministers, as they are messengers of the gospel.
• The first angel joins Heaven to earth.
• The gospel is eternal because it was designed before the foundations of the world and will last throughout eternity.
• We have simplified the word gospel into the term good news. Yes, the message that we proclaim contains very good news. God has provided a way for us to be purified of our sins. That is very good news! But when we think of news, we think of the nightly news on TV or news articles in print or media. They are just a story about what has happened – with or without someone’s interpretation of it. That is not what the gospel is about! That makes eternal and gospel oxymorons when we are limiting it to good news.
• The gospel message isn’t going to change. It is an eternal gospel. It’s truths are absolute. It is also complete. Everything we need for redemption is in the pages of God’s Word.
• There aren’t very many fire and brimstone preachers anymore. Times have changed. In the congregation are those looking for self-help tips. Others want sin sugar coated or redefined. They don’t want someone talking to them about judgment and punishment.
• The worldview people have lost their knowledge of Sovereign God.
• God wants on earth to be saved. The gospel message is available to all. It is a universal gospel.
• Israel was God’s chosen people.
• But God never turned away anyone who would circumcise their hearts and obey Him. In fact, those are the only ones He accepted.
• Worldview people inhabit all the earth. That is our mission field. The only way they will come back to God is by gaining knowledge of Him. This is part of the foundation of our relationship with God. We must know Him.
• The goal of the message is to show our need for love and obedience to God.
• When we start to see Him as God, we begin to have wisdom.
• This is important because those not putting their faith and trust in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer will experience judgment.
• We are to fear God – awe and have terror – because judgment is coming.
• God’s grace and mercy for this world will only last so long before He sends Jesus in judgment.
• We have to watch how we interpret that God will right every wrong and give back what we’ve lost. We don’t want to look at it through worldly eyes.

The Messages of the Second and Third Angel

• The second angel proclaims the doom of the earth.
• The angel is proclaiming doom at the hour of judgment.
• God is not going to blindside us. He has warned us all along that – if we don’t accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior – judgment will come.
• Now, on the brink of judgment, God is warning us again.
• Always when a spiritual revival occurs, it is immediately succeeded with judgment of the world.
• God will always defeat Satan. His principles challenge and weaken worldview principles. How do God’s principles weaken Satan’s principles? After conversion, God’s principles grow in us as we are sanctified, weakening the pull of – and hopefully eliminating – Satan’s principles within us.
  Satan and the Antichrist try to pull all they can from all the earth.
• Satan’s world is mired in sexual immorality and corruption.
• The third angel’s message more sternly warns of God’s wrath for those who do not follow Him.
• On the Day of the Lord, God’s wrath is going to fall on all who are not truly following Him.
• We’ve been calling these goats dressed in sheep’s clothing. But if they identify as sheep, are they going to get the mark? We would normally say no. Having the mark of the beast isn’t appearing to be godly. But if they are sheep compromising with the worldview, they might compromise in this way and get the mark. So, what if they are goats in sheep’s clothing without the mark? Paul warned us about having the appearance of godliness.
• What doesn’t help us is that we have no clue as to when the mark of the beast will occur. I have always thought it would be before the Rapture. There has to be a choice as to get the mark or not.
• The wicked will be resurrected and judged.
• Sometimes, we may think those being cast into the lake of fire will experience another “physical” death. While they will experience a spiritual death, they aren’t going to die and be nothing. They are going to feel pain – eternally.
• Remember, mankind is made in the image of God. That makes us eternal – the pure and the impure.

The Fourth Message

• The voice from Heaven gives a blessing to those saints who endure.
• Every child of God must have patience for that to which God is calling them.
• God is more concerned about our heavenly life than our earthly one. No, we shouldn’t sin by being impatient in this life.
• We need to our faith and trust in God and waiting on His timing.

• We would say that those who endure the suffering brought on by the Antichrist would really deserve the blessing. Think of all the suffering they had to withstand.
• Those standing up to the Antichrist, not getting the mark of the beast, enduring all the trials of not being able to buy and sell – in other words provide for ourselves – will receive a blessing if they keep the commandments and their faith.
• Patience and endurance must be about keeping our faith in God pure and strong. That is the only way in which we will be blessed.
  It is only through God’s grace that we can enter Heaven. It is only when we are set apart for God that we can enter Heaven. We have to have the character of God – be in Christ. It is about being faithful until death. We have to be in the Lord.
• We lose our faith when we do not hold on tightly to God’s laws and commandments.

• God had an important task for John that would have major kingdom implications. He was going to take a hands-on approach in assisting John. He wanted to show the unchangeable truth.
• There are some who are faithful until death and gain Heaven.
• Death is usually seen to be a curse. Sin brings spiritual death as well as physical death. However, we are not going to see Christ until the physical death has occurred. But this death isn’t death as we know it. We are born again through this death because we have already been born again through Christ.
• When we are “in Christ,” sin no longer has a hold on us. Yes, Jesus is in us. He is in our hearts after we have asked Him to be our Savior. He is also to be in our lives.
• It goes a step further than that. When we are in Christ, we are imitating Him. We are so into Him that we want to be exactly like Him.
• It isn’t just that we cooperate and do what God has asked. It is more of a melding that we become as He is.
• The easy way to say that is to die with Christ means we have lived for Christ. That means we submit everything to God and do not compromise with the world.

• Faith is just the start. Faith must be followed by obedience.Good works do not open the door to Heaven. Our works – service – follows us. Because of this service, we receive blessings. Our service also makes Heaven a place of blessedness because we — aiding the Holy Spirit — have brought souls to Jesus for salvation. This service has increased our holiness — the only way in which we will see Jesus.
• The Book of Revelation was written to them to comfort them because of the trials that were coming their way.
• They were going to die. Many have died since then. We may die before Jesus returns. Once this life is over – even if we are recipients of violence and cruelty that end our lives – we enter Heaven — if God is our Father and Jesus our Savior.
• In Heaven, we will no longer labor but still continue to serve God.
• We get caught up on working out our salvation. We sometimes think it is talking about our works. We think that means doing the Matthew 25 to-do list (Mt. 25: 35-36 ESV). Disciples do have to work – the right way. But we aren’t working. We are serving. If serving God in this lifetime is a condition of being blessed, won’t it still be required in Heaven?

• From what will we rest? It isn’t going to be obeying God’s laws and commandments. We are going to be doing that for eternity.
• We will no longer have our marching orders.
• What comes with our labors? Many times, sacrifices do. Sometimes, they are riddled with persecution.
• What follows us? Our character follows us because our character is supposed to be that of God’s. Every good thing we’ve done on the Sanctification Road will follow us. That is what made our character as God’s. Most of all, our devotion for our Savior follows us. Our love for Sovereign God will not only continue but grow as we meet Him.
• We will, however — I think — have responsibilities to carry out in Heaven. God would not like to see us exhibit all this work for Him here on earth only to sit around and eat bon bons all “day” in Heaven.
• Since this life is a trial run for Heaven, God will find us ways for us to prepare for our service in Heaven.
• But won’t we, as a community in Heaven, support each other? We will worship together.
• It comes down to the concept that we should flip everything. Instead of putting the focus on this life, we should focus on eternal life. That puts lesser value on things of this world and more value on spiritual things.

The Smoke and Torment of Hell

• Many want to think that God is a loving God, incapable of punishing us — they would be wrong.
• God isn’t going to just threaten mankind with a punishment, the application of which would go against with His character. That kind of sounds like the loving God theory is correct — but it is leaving out something — God’s wrath.
• If God loves purity, He hates sin. If God didn’t hate sin, it would go against His character.

• God is incapable of going against His character. That means God doesn’t threaten mankind with punishment. He promises that it will occur.
• Because God is unchanging, He will not change how salvation is gained. God isn’t going to change His mind on the way we gain salvation.
• God obliterates our definition of goodness. We see goodness as an action. We see goodness as working to alleviate the pain and suffering of others. God doesn’t look at it that way. He sees it as more of a character trait. We don’t have to wait to see someone in need of our goodness.
• All things — all that we experience in life — works to increase our likeness to God — if we let it.

• Punishment provides justice.
• We tend to think of justice as the standard by which sentences are meted out for wrongs done. But it doesn’t have to just be punishment. It is also the standard by which advantages of life are distributed.
• The real definition of justice shifts the emphasis of justice off God’s wrath onto God’s love.
• God is wanting to reestablish His order in creation because of His love for us. He doesn’t make salvation available only to the rich or noble. It isn’t earned, so it isn’t based on ability. It isn’t about who we know or not know.
• Regardless of the sin, it is at its basic element disobedience to God.
• God is more concerned about our spiritual condition than anything else in our lives.
• God isn’t really interested in our religion. He is interested in having a relationship with us.
• That also tells me God isn’t really interested in the outward appearances. He wants an inward transformation.
• God expects us to serve Him with what He has given us – and punishes us when we do not.
• We can’t just sit back and do nothing. We have to use what God has given us. We are commanded to grow in grace and knowledge of God and Jesus.
• We must imitate God because of our love for Him.
• Sin is going to be greatly punished. Smoke and torment are going to be horrible punishments. 
• If Heaven is continual happiness, hell is the opposite. It provides a lot of pain – and yes, those in hell are going to feel it.

The Harvest of the Earth

• All people will one day removed from the earth.
• Jesus, the Son of Man, will come in glory.
• That the cloud Jesus arrives on is white is significant. It symbolizes the purity of Jesus. He will also be wearing a golden crown.
• Since Jesus is the One sitting on the cloud, He is the one swinging the sickle.
• Judgment in the form of the harvest is coming.
• The judging is different work than the harvesting. I am just not sure I know how that is all going to shake out.
• Why did the angel from the altar have responsibility for the fire? That is because the altar always has a fire going on it. Since it is time, the angel in charge of the fire is sent to assist.
• Judgment will be a bloody vengeance.

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On the Day of the Lord theme

Devotions in the studies

The Harvest of the Earth series

The Beasts series